


if lobsters had wings...

by aceklaviergavin



Series: Akekita Week 2020 [4]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff and Crack, M/M, Meet-Cute, Pet Ownership - Freeform, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:55:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27318118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aceklaviergavin/pseuds/aceklaviergavin
Summary: Have you heard this one before? A lobster and a crow walk into a park...
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kitagawa Yusuke
Series: Akekita Week 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1994365
Comments: 13
Kudos: 31
Collections: Akekita Week





	if lobsters had wings...

**Author's Note:**

> Akekita Week Day 4: Shadows // **Birds of a feather**
> 
> please do not read this one i was literally just banging my monkey hands on the keyboard to fill space

Akechi has a routine and he likes to stick to it. He wakes up at dawn every morning to meditate. He stops at the same café for coffee on his way to work. He buys lunch from the same conbini near the station. Every evening he takes his pet crow for a walk in the same park.

Though calling it a “walk” is disingenuous. Mostly, Akechi sits on the same bench under a maple and throws sweet potato chunks at Loki while he hops around in the grass. Sometimes Loki will find a worm, others he’ll spend the whole time pecking at Akechi’s pant leg. Today, Loki hops up on his shoe. He tilts his head imploringly at Akechi.

Akechi raises an eyebrow at him. “What?” Loki flaps his wings ineffectually.

With a sigh, Akechi reaches down, gently grasping Loki around his breast. Used to being manhandled, Loki cooperates long enough for Akechi to place him on the bench.

“There, is that what you wanted?” Akechi asks.

Loki pecks at Akechi’s hand. “I don’t have any more treats. You ate all of them.”

Loki satisfies himself by gnawing on Akechi’s finger. The sharp edges where Loki’s beak is broken off dig into the leather. Thankfully, it’s thick enough to keep him from being anything more than a nuisance.

“You should be _thanking_ me,” Akechi grumbles, letting Loki chew on him.

Akechi lets Loki have his fun, turning back to look out over the rest of the park. It’s the same as always, a nice verdant sanctuary hidden in the heart of Tokyo. It’s peaceful here, the bustle of the city far away. Akechi recognizes the regulars: a man jogging after getting home from work, an unruly teenager walking their equally unruly dog. Akechi’s never actually talked to these people, but their paths cross for these brief moments. They too, have sought out peace in the midst of a hectic reality.

As much as things change, these moments here in the park with Loki stay the same.

“Goemon, cease this at once!”

The lobster is new, though.

A tall, dark-haired man comes out from behind tree cover, walking along the pavement towards Akechi’s bench. He holds a long blue ribbon in his hand, the end of which is tied around the ugliest dog Akechi’s ever seen. As the duo gets closer, Akechi quickly realizes it’s not a dog at all, but a fucking _lobster._

As a general rule, Akechi tries not to stare. Or at least, if he does, he tries to be subtle about it. Subtlety quickly flies out the window as the lobster scuttles along the road, tiny little crab legs scraping against the ground. Its antennae flick in Akechi’s direction as they pass by. The man ignores him completely, following behind the lobster at a slow pace.

Once they’re out of earshot, Loki stops chewing on Akechi’s finger to caw balefully. Akechi glares at him.

“Oh stop. You don’t even eat seafood,” he scolds.

That night, Loki returns to Akechi’s office-turned-aviary while Akechi lays himself in bed. Briefly, he wishes he’d thought to take a picture. In all likelihood, Akechi happened on some sort of publicity stunt. Whether the lobster was part of a viral marketing campaign, or some hidden camera video, Akechi doubts he’ll see anything like it again. The real shame is that no one is ever going to believe him.

But to Akechi’s surprise, the lobster and its handler show up the next evening. And the next, and the next. Suddenly, the lobster is one of the park’s regulars. Akechi could set his watch to its appearance.

For a while, that’s the extent of their interaction. Though unusual, the lobster is just another of the paths intersecting with Akechi’s. They pass by like ships in the night, unknowing of each others destination, only aware of this brief moment of connection.

Until Lobster Boy sits on Akechi’s bench.

It’s a day like any other, Loki pecking at small beetles by the roadside under Akechi’s watchful eye. The lobster turns the corner at exactly 17:13, just like it does every day. Akechi’s eyes follow the creature with mild interest. Its speed is limited by its little legs, the man taking small, slow steps to keep pace. It takes the pair a good five minutes to reach Akechi’s bench.

He inspects the pair to keep walking down the path, disappearing around the next bend like they have every day before. Instead, the man stoops to pick up his lobster and makes a ninety degree turn to sit on Akechi’s bench. Akechi’s gaze turns sour and he glares daggers at the man daring to encroach on his serenity.

Sitting beside him, Akechi realizes for the first time just how tall he is. He has a thin, pretty face, dark blue-black hair falling over one brow. Somehow it makes him even angrier.

“Can I help you?” Akechi snaps.

The other man meets his gaze, unaffected as Akechi’s rage hits an emotional brick wall. “No, I’m alright, thank you,” he says pleasantly.

Akechi gapes at him. His eye twitches. Either this man has an iron will or complete disregard for social interaction. Akechi resolutely faces forward, refusing to acknowledge the stranger at his side. Akechi hears the rustling of papers at his side, the other man’s weight shifting on the bench. No matter how curious he is, he’s absolutely _not_ going to look.

“Hold that expression.”

Akechi whirls around to face the other man, only to nearly impale his eye on the man’s outstretched fingers. “Excuse me?”

That pretty face twists in a disappointed frown. “I told you to hold it.”

The lobster now pokes its head out of the man’s bag, antennae twitching with interest. An open sketchbook rests on the man’s lap, a stick of charcoal grasped in his hand. He pouts at Akechi. It would be endearing if the situation weren’t so fucking weird.

“What the hell do you want?” Akechi asks.

The man blinks at him. “Oh, where are my manners.” Where indeed. “I’m Kitagawa Yusuke—”

“I didn’t ask.”

“—I was going to sketch you.”

Akechi genuinely can’t tell if this guy—Yusuke—is serious. “Am I supposed to be flattered?”

“No, I wouldn’t say so.” Yusuke leans in, studying Akechi’s face intently. “You have a remarkable severity in you. I would be a fool not to see it.”

The more he talks, the less it sounds like a compliment. “And you had to sit right there?”

Yusuke blinks at him owlishly. “Would you rather have me sit somewhere else?”

Nowhere, if Akechi is perfectly honest. But no matter how many hints Akechi lays, they go right over Yusuke’s head.

Akechi rolls his eyes. “Nevermind.”

For his part, Yusuke seems pleased with that answer, and sets his charcoal to paper. The stick scratches along the sketchbook’s pages, filling the heavy silence. It takes all of Akechi’s willpower not to peek. No matter how much he tells himself he doesn’t care, the urge is overpowering.

Loki finally approaches, eyeing the stranger warily. He sits himself on Akechi’s shoe, flapping his wings, and puffing up his feathers to make himself look taller. He caws obstinately in Yusuke’s direction.

Yusuke glances up from his work and meets the little bird’s beady eyes. “That’s a remarkable bird,” Yusuke notes. “You’ve trained him very well.”

Akechi barks out a laugh. “I haven’t taught him to do shit, he’s just a brat.”

Yusuke tilts his head at Loki only for the bird to mimic the gesture. “But he doesn’t fly away.”

“That’s because he can’t.” Akechi sighs. “He’s… a rescue,” Akechi finally settles on.

The full story is far too morbid for Akechi to tell a stranger. On his commute home from work, Akechi found a group of neighborhood kids crowding in one of the back alleys. Too curious to leave well enough alone, Akechi chanced a look. At the center of the circle was an injured bird, a large crow, and the kids poked and prodded it like some kind of toy, pulling on its wings, grabbing feathers. One shout was enough to clear them out. But the damage was irreversible. A large crack separated the bird’s beak, and the bones in its wing would never properly heal. The vet told him the bird would never survive in the wild and the best course of action was euthanization.

Akechi said fuck that and took the bird home himself.

Yusuke nods sagely, “I understand.”

“Do you?”

“Goemon is a rescue as well. I saved him from the fish market,” Yusuke says fondly.

Akechi may be a snob, but he’d hardly call the situations comparable. “You bought him from a seafood stand?” he asks incredulously.

Yusuke nods. “I spent the last of my money and had to walk back to my apartment.” He says it like it’s something to be proud of and not overwhelmingly foolish.

“You realize that by buying a lobster you’re simply increasing the demand for lobsters to be caught and killed?” Akechi points out.

“Perhaps, but I think Goemon is grateful all the same.” Yusuke smiles down at the lobster.

Akechi isn’t entirely sure if lobsters have feelings. But that’s certainly not the hill he’s about to die on.

“I hope that Goemon and I can one day have a bond as strong as yours.” Yusuke leans down, offering a hand out to Loki.

“Watch out he’s—” Loki clamps down on Yusuke’s forefinger, “—aggressive.”

To his credit, Yusuke doesn’t panic or flail his limbs in response to being used as a chew toy by an irate bird. He wiggles his hand in an attempt to pull it out of Loki’s grasp. Loki holds strong, hopping to follow Yusuke’s movements.

“My, his bite is rather strong,” Yusuke hums nonchalantly.

“Yes, he seems to be under the impression that he’s a raptor, no matter how much I remind him he isn’t.” Akechi snaps his fingers near Loki’s head. “Hey, Loki, that’s not food. He’s too skinny for you to get a good meal, anyway.”

Loki lets go of Yusuke’s hand, only so that he can latch onto Akechi’s. But Akechi is wearing gloves to dull the sensation. Besides, the skin on his knuckles calloused over long ago due to this exact reason.

Yusuke inspects his hand with mild interest, watching blood bubble up from where Loki pierced the skin. “I’m bleeding,” he hums flatly.

 _That’s what you get for reaching out to strange birds,_ Akechi thinks. “Here.”

Akechi uses the hand that Loki isn’t chewing on to grab his briefcase. He pulls it into his lap, undoing the latch with one hand and reaching in to grab a bag of bandages. Loki chooses that moment to lose interest in his hand, probably because he no longer tastes blood. Akechi steals his hand back while Loki starts pecking irately at his shoe.

Just before Akechi can hand the bandage to Yusuke, Yusuke thrusts his hand into Akechi’s face. Akechi reels back, but chooses to just get it over with. He carefully takes Yusuke’s hand in his, laying it flat on his lap. He unwraps the bandage and slowly curls it around Yusuke’s finger. Yusuke’s hands are strangely cold for the summer heat, Akechi’s skin tingling at the contact.

“There,” Akechi says, quickly dropping Yusuke’s hand. “You should wash that out when you get home. Loki doesn’t exactly brush his teeth.”

Yusuke inspects the bandage wrapped around his finger. The background is bright red, the Featherman logo tiled across it.

“You like Phoenix Ranger Featherman?” he asks.

Akechi flushes despite himself. “Is that a problem?” he snaps defensively.

“No. I have a friend that enjoys it, as well.”

“Well, good.”

Yusuke begins stowing his materials away. He removes Goemon from his bag, replacing him with his sketchbook. He stands, Goemon nestled safely in his arms, eyes rotating on their little stalks. Akechi feels like he’s being watched by an alien.

“I should go take care of this.” He waves his injured hand vaguely. “I’m looking forward to seeing you again tomorrow. I still need to finish sketching you”

He walks off down the path, the same way he does every day. Except this time, Akechi is left reeling in his wake. In the space of a few minutes, he learned far more about Lobster Boy than he ever needed to.

Akechi looks down at Loki, still pecking away at his shoe. “This is your fault,” he accuses.

Loki’s only response is an irate caw.

**Author's Note:**

> you can come talk to me on [tumblr](https://aceklaviergavin.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/aceklaviergavin)


End file.
